``China's yuan is close to being a freely usable currency, one of two key tests for it to be included in the International Monetary Fund's currency basket, the deputy governor of China's central bank said on Sunday... Yi emphasized that a currency that is freely usable may not necessarily be "freely convertible," pointing to currencies that joined the SDR basket in the 1960s and 1970s... Adding the yuan to the basket would be a recognition of China's growing economic clout. It could also be a way of encouraging Beijing to speed up reform of its foreign exchange system.''